Every summer, an familiar question surface across India, echoing from homes to news rooms: is it really hot, or we just became more sensitive? It is not just some indifferent lament or biological quiver. The evidence is clear and unrelated: India’s heat is sharp, crawling in the first, pulling long, and is deeper than ever.
What is happening is not a trick of perception. This is real. Summer waves have become constant forces once and brief, daily life and work that rebuild work. As India meteorological departmentA heat wave is declared when the temperature reaches at least 40 ° C in the plains or 30 ° C in the hills, with a deviation of at least two days with a deviation of 4.5 ° C or more than normal.
These thresholds, once rare, are quick to become standard during summer months. In states such as Odisha and Rajasthan, which used to be a brief seasonal heat spikes, it was now spread over long, more frequent episodes, cumulatively spreading months. Between the summer of June 2010 and 2024, the day of the cumulative summer wave increased from about 177 to 536 – a shocking growth of more than 200%.
Heat Wave Days count the total number of days on which the heat wave is recorded in all affected areas. Since the waves of heat attack different places at different times, these days are expressed at the national level, so the total can cross the summer season at any place.
High mortality analysis
Despite the increasing severity of summer waves, the possibility of official data reduces their actual impact. Various government departments collect and report heat -related deaths using various methods and sources, which can vary in the numbers presented. Between 2000 and 2020, India recorded 20,615 heatstroke death as per government records. However, many are outside the deadly hospitals related to heat-in homes, construction sites or village fields, for example-medical aid and formal death authentication may not always be accessible. As a result, deaths starting with heat are often recorded for wide reasons such as cardiac arrest or respiratory failure.
Death reporting related to standardized, compulsory heat and the absence of real -time monitoring means that many such deaths remain uncountable, leading to challenges for public health plan and response. Independent researchers and organizations have sought to address this difference using additional mortality analysis: comparing real deaths during the heat period with long seasonal average.
While some critics question the accuracy of these estimates and the methods used, additional mortality analysis remains a widely accepted and strong epidemiological tool. It captures both direct and indirect deaths related to heat, including curved for other reasons such as cardiac arrest or kidney failure, which is often missed in official cases.
For example, Global burden disease The study estimated about 155,937 heat-related deaths in India in 2021, including a malignant, prolonged contact for high temperatures and prolonged contacts for high temperatures. Given the known underporting in official data, such models-based projections provide a more comprehensive and realistic picture of the actual human toll of extreme heat.
Stay with heat
Human toll of summer waves is similar to significant economic damage. 2022 heatwave Wheat yield in major producing areas of about 4.5%decreases, some districts experience loss of up to 15%. This disruption contributed to inflation pressure on food items worldwide. At the same time, Heatwave triggled the power crisis as the power demand increased to a high level of all time of 207 GW, put the grid under stress and blackouts in some areas. Labor productivity was dramatically damaged in outer areas such as construction and agriculture, as workers faced an impossible option between dangerous heat risk or seizing income.
According to the McKinse Global Institute, heat -related productivity loss may be threatened between 2.5% and 4.5% of India’s annual GDP by 2030, outlining the immediate requirement of adaptive policies.
The irony is that India once knew how to live with heat. From the earthen houses of Odisha to the sandstone of the sandstone of Rajasthan, generations prepared spaces to cool without electricity. The rural routine followed the solar rhythm: The work started at sunrise, stopped during the top heat, and resumed in the evening. Architecture used breathing materials such as lime, thach and mud to keep homes cool compared to today’s concrete structures. In cities, water-cooled courtyards, shaded streets, baoli, and perforated stone screen (jaali) created microclimates. These systems were not folklore: they were practical reactions to climatic conditions, which were inherent in culture and community.
A vivid example of this traditional knowledge is Navatapa, which means “nine -day heat”. Celebrated from 25 May to 2 June, it marks the entry of the Sun into the Rohini Nakshatra and was considered the most intense stretch of summer. During being vested in astrology, Navtapa closely aligns with modern heat wave data. At this time, the communities avoided heavy food, resting during the afternoon, drank buttermilk and like hydrating mix. SattuAnd provided shade and water for livestock. These practices reflect sound physical and environmental meanings while culturally grounded, and are supported by modern science today.
Why were these traditions? Not because they were ineffective, but because modern development models developed differently. Post-liberalization planning on the favored speed and scale, often ignore climate sensitivity. The glass of glass and concrete houses replaced the structures of the respiratory. Labor moved to flexible aged cycles to more rigid, external, informal urban jobs. Planning codes such as National Building Code do not make passive cooling mandatory. Real-estate finance rarely supports traditional materials. Without institutional support or economic incentive, these practices cannot be constantly or scaled.
Invisible deaths
Meanwhile, India’s formal reaction to the heat is gradually developing. Especially, Ahmedabad Heat action planImplemented in 2014, associated with a significant decrease in heat -related mortality in the city, an estimated 1,190 deaths were avoided annually in their early years.
Cities like Bhubaneswar and Nagpur have initiated efforts to increase green cover and promote roof measures to reduce heat absorption. However, many heat action plans remain largely advisors, often a binding mandate, dedicated budget, or lack of clear accountability mechanisms.
Only a few cities have appointed trained climatic officers or integrated heat ideas in their urban master plans. Public cooling shelters are limited to numbers, and awareness campaigns often rely on digital platforms that effectively cannot reach regional language speakers, migrants, daily wages and non-literate populations.
The rural landscape tells a difficult story. Despite most of the heat-elaborate population living there, there is still a lack of a solid rural heat governance structure in India. Major programs – Gram Panchayat Development Schemes, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, and National Health Mission – barely touch summer issues. Unlike cities, villages have no opposition for urban heat action plans. Panchayats often struggle with limited funding, staffing and training, making them sick to establish cooling measures or to modify the time of work. Age-old water bodies, tree covers, and half-sheep away, disabled and unseen. Many rural deaths remain invisible, deprived of important data.
Come to heat risk
Beyond bricks and mortar, a deep difference remains: a disconnect between science and how people actually experience heat. Most do not feel “such as” temperatures, which are causes in the air with humidity, solar radiation and air temperature. Therefore, when the thermometer says 42 ° C, the body can struggle with conditions close to 50 ° C which causes hidden burden, only beyond the number, dehydration, heat tiredness and heatstroke. Public health messages rarely translate it from everyday point of view, causing a lot of unknown and unsafe for real threats.
Equally important is how heat alert is communicated. In many parts of India, advice is issued in Hindi or English, which is shared through apps and social media that assumes literacy, using smartphones and digital flows. This approach can exclude millions, especially rural poor, migrant and old citizens. Heat warnings should not be limited to digital platforms. They should be distributed through oral announcements, local radio, posters, community workers and reliable institutions in regional languages.
Inclusive communication should reach every corner, every community. Otherwise, awareness remains partial and fragmented. India stands at an intersection, which gives an opportunity to exploit the knowledge and experience woven in his clothes already. Immediately, the district – urban and rural equal – can start rolling heat action plans to suit their realities directed by the Disaster Management Act 2005. These will not be abstract policies, but ground action: Pinpoints of summer hotspots, setting the rest of the spots, ensuring water access, and sending alerts who believe and understand.
Beyond the immediate, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, and beyond the National Health Mission, and the National Health Mission provides a canvas to embedded Jalu Sensitivity. Think of contemplative roof, more trees, natural ventilation: elements that cool homes and livelihood equally. With financial channels such as the fifteenth Finance Commission and District Mineral Funds, local governments receive muscles to score these interventions fairly and effectively.
Below the line, the actual change demands more than different efforts. Building codes should be developed in favor of passive cooling, urban and rural designs should be incorporated by default, and institutions should learn to speak the same language. Clear roles are essential for India Meteorological Department, National Disaster Management Authority, State Disaster Management Officers, Municipal Bodies and Gram Panchayats. Such coordination allows India to avoid foot through heat emergency conditions and allow them to manage with flexibility.
Knowledge is not a hurdle. India’s legacy of traditional practices along with modern science is a rich foundation. The challenge lies in these combinations, supported by political will and harmonious policy, to prepare India for its hottest years.
Ajay S. Nagpure is an urban system scientist at the Urban Nexus Lab at the University of Princeton.
Published – June 02, 2025 05:30 AM IST
